Hobson. Notes On The Athanasian Creed. 1894.

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BIBL.
COLLEGE
NOTES
ON THE
ATHANASIAN CREED,
BY THE
REV. EDWIN HOBSON, M.A.,

PRINCIPAL OF S. KATHARINE S COLLEGE, TOTTENHAM.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE,
BTBL. MAJ-
COLLEGE
LONDON :
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN

KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. ; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G.
NEW YORK : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
1894.
"
Is there in that Confession of Faith

anything
which doth not at all times
edify and instruct the
"
faithful hearer ? Hooker.
"
The Psalm that gathers in one glorious

lay
All chants that e er from heaven to earth found
way:
Majestic march as meet to guide and time
!
Man s wandering path in life s ungenial clime,

As Aaron s
trump for the dread Ark s array.
Creed of the Saints, and Anthem of the
Blest,
And calm-breathed warning of the kindliest love
That ever heaved a wakeful mother s breast,
(True love is bold, and gravely dares reprove,)

Who knows but myriads owe their endless rest
To thy recalling, tempted else to rove?" KeUe.
"
Athanasius Creed .... ought

thoroughly to be
received and believed for it may be
; proved by most
certain warrants of Holy Article VIII.
Scripture."
A 2
THE
ATHANASIAN CREED.
THE Creed which Article VIII. calls ATHA-

NASIUS CREED, and which is entitled in the
rubric directing its use THE CONFESSION OF
OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH, COMMONLY CALLED
THE CREED OF SAINT ATHANASIUS, is thus
connected with the great saint and doctor of
the Church who was Bishop of Alexandria
from A.D. 326 to 373.
The title, however, is not to be understood
as attributing the authorship to Athanasius
himself: it contains references to heresies
posterior to the time of Athanasius it is

;
evident also from its structure that it was ori

ginally written in Latin, whereas Athanasius
wrote in Greek and we may regard it as
;
certain that the Creed was set forth under

his name only because it stated, with more ex-
plicitness and fulness than the earlier Creeds,
those great doctrines of which Athanasius
6 NOTES ON THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
was the champion, and which he maintained

in opposition to Arius at the Council of
Nicsea, A.D. 325.
The date and authorship of the Creed have
formed the subject of much controversy
amongst scholars. Waterland, a learned divine
of our Church at the beginning of the last
century, after carefully investigating the whole

matter, was led to conclude that the Creed was
"
in all probability composed in Gaul, some time

between the year 426 and the year 430 and ;"
to ascribe the authorship to

"
Hilary, Bishop
of Aries, a celebrated man of that time, and
of chief repute in the Gallican Church." The
arguments in support of this conclusion will
be found clearly set forth in Bishop Harold
Browne s Exposition of the Articles, pp. 221
224. Subsequent writers have, however,
questioned the validity of some of the evi
dence on which Waterland s judgment was
formed, and are disposed to assign to the
Creed a much later date.
Before the Reformation the Creed was daily
read in our Church. An English version of it
is found in Bishop Hilsey s Primer, a manual
of instruction and devotion drawn up in 1539 ;
and reference will be found in the notes to a

later English version (1542), which is printed
NOTES ON THE ATHANASIAN CREED. 7
at length in Professor Swainson s Letter to

the Dean of Chichester on the Athanasian
Creed. The First Prayer Book of Edward VI.
(1549) limited the use of the Creed to the

six Great Festivals Christmas, Epiphany,
Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, and
Trinity Sunday; A.D. 1552, it was ap
in
pointed to be usedon seven other days, thus

bringing the number of days on which it was
to be recited to thirteen, as enjoined in our
present rubric.
THE
CONFESSION OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH,

COMMONLY CALLED
THE CREED OF ST. ATHANASIUS.
English Version. Latin Version.

1. WHOSOEVER will QUICUNQUE vult
1.
Le saved : before all salvus esse, ante om-

things it is necessary nia opus est ut teneat
that he hold the Ca Catholicam fidem.
tholic Faith.
2. Which Faith ex 2. Quam nisi quis
cept every do one integram inviolatam-
keep whole and un- que servaverit, absque
defiled without doubt
: dubio in seternum per-
he shall perish ever ibit.
lastingly.
3. And the Catho 3. Fides autem Ca-

lic Faith is this : tholica hsec est, UT
THAT WE WORSHIP UNUM DEUM IN TRI-
ONE GOD IN TRINI NITATE, ET TlilNITA-
TY, AND TRINITY IN TEM IN UNITATE,
UNITY ;
VENEREMUR ;
4. [Neither con- 4. Neque confun-

NOTES ON THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
founding the Per dentes Personas, ne-

sons nor dividing
:
que substantiam se-
the Substance. parantes.

5. For there is one 5^ Alia est enim
Person of the Father, persona Patris, alia
another of the Son :
Filii, alia Spiritus
and another of the Sancti.
Holy Ghost.
6. But the Godhead 6. Sed Patris, et
of the Father, of the Filii, et Spiritus Sanc
Son, and of the Holy ti, una est Divinitas,
Ghost, is all one the :

sequalis Gloria, cose-
Glory equal, the Ma terna Majestas.
jesty co-eternal.
7. Such as the Fa 7. Qualis Pater, talis
ther is, such is the Filius, talis Spiritus

Son and such is the
: Sanctus.
Holy Ghost.
8. The Father un- 8. Increatus Pater,
create, the Son un- increatus Filius, in-
create and the Holy
: creatus Spiritus Sanc
Ghost uncreate. tus.
9. The Father in 9. Immensus Pater,
comprehensible, the immensus Filius, im-

Son incomprehensible: mensus Spiritus Sanc
and the Holy Ghost tus.
incomprehensible.
10.The Father eter 10. Êternus Pater,
nal, the Son eternal : seternus Filius, seter-

and the Holy Ghost nus Spiritus Sanctus.
eternal.
11. And yet they 11. Et tamen non
are not three eter tres Êterni, sedunus
nals : but one eter Êternus.
nal.
12. As also there 12. Sicut non tres
are not three in- Increati, nee tres Iru-
comprehensibles, nor mensi; sed unus In-

three uncreated : but creatus, et unus Irn-
one uncreated, and mensus.
one incomprehensi
ble.
13. So likewise the 13. Similiter omni-

Father is Almighty, potens Pater, omni-
the Son Almighty :
potens Filius, omni-
and the Holy Ghost potens Spiritus Sanc
Almighty. tus.
14. And
yet they 14. Et tamen non
are not three Almigh tres Omnipotentes, sed
ties : but one Almigh unus Omnipotens.
ty-
15. So the Father 15. ItaDeus Pater,
is God, the Son is Deus Filius, Deus Spi
God : and the Holy ritus Sanctus.
Ghost is God.
16. And yet they 16. Et tamen non

are not three Gods : tres Dei, sed unus est
but one God. Deus.
17. So likewise the 17. Ita Dominus
Father is Lord, the Pater, Dominus Fili-
Son Lord and the
:
us, Dominus Spiritus
Holy Ghost Lord. Sanctus.
18. And yet not 18. Et tamen non
three Lords : but one tres Domini, sed unus
Lord. est Dominus.
19. For like as we 19. Quia, sicut sin-
are compelled by the gillatim unamquam-
Christian verity to :
que personam, Deum
acknowledge every ac Dominum confiteri
Person by himself to Christiana veritate
be God and Lord ; compellimur,
20. So are we for 20. Ita tres Deos
bidden by the Catho aut Dominos dicere
lic Religion : to say, Catholica Religione
There be three Gods, prohibemur.
or three Lords.
21. The Father is 21. Pater a nullo est

made of none : nei factus,nec creatus,nec
ther created, nor be genitus.
gotten.
22. The Son is of 22. Filius a Patre
the Father alone : not solo est, non factus,
12 NOTFS ON THE ATHANAS AN CREED.
made, nor created, but nec creatus, sed geni-

begotten. tus.
The Holy Ghost
23. 23. Spiritus Sanctus
is of the Father and a Patre et Filio, non
of the Son neither :
factus, nee creatus, nee
made, nor created, genitus, sed procedens.
nor begotten, but pro
ceeding.
24. So there is one 24. Unus ergo Pater,
Father, not three Fa non tres Patres; unus
thers ;
one Son, not Filius, non tres Filii ;
three Sons : one Holy unus Spiritus Sanc

Ghost, not three Holy tus, non tres Spiritus
Ghosts. Sancti.
25. And in this 25. Et in hac Trini-

Trinity none is afore, tate nihil prius aut
or after other : none posterius, nihil majus
is greater, or less than aut minus ;
another ;
26. But the whole 26. Sed totse tres

three Persons are co- Personse coseternse sibi
eternal together : and sunt et cosequales.
co-equal.
27. So that in all 27. Ita ut per omnia,
things, as is afore sicut jam supra dic

said the:
Unity in tum est, et Unitas in
Trinity, and the Tri- Trinitate, et Trinitas
NOTES ON THE ATH AN ASIAN GREED. 13
nity in Unity is to in Unitate, veneranda

be worshipped. sit.
28. He therefore 28. Qui vult ergo

that will be saved : salvus esse, ita de Tri-
must thus think of nitate sentiat.
the Trinity.
29. Furthermore, it 29.Sed necessarium

is necessary to ever est ad seternam salu-
lasting salvation that :
tem, ut INCARNATIO-
he also believe right NEM QUOQUE DOMINI
ly THE INCARNATION NOSTRI JESU CHRISTI
OF OUR LORD JESUS fideliter credat.
CHRIST.
30. For the right 30. Est ergo fides
Faith is. that we be recta, ut credamus, et
lieve and confess :
confiteamur, quia Do-
that Our Lord Jesus minus noster Jesus
Christ. the Son of God, Christus, Dei films,
is God and Man ;
Deus et homo est.
31. God, of the Sub 31. Deus est, ex sub-

stance of the Father, stantia Patris ante sae-
begotten before the cula genitus et homo

;
worlds and Man, of

:
est, ex substantia ma-
the Substance of His tris in sseculo natus ;
Mother, born in the

world ;
32. Perfect God, and 32. Perfectus Deus,
perfect Man : of a rea perfectus homo, ex ani-

sonable soul and hu ma rationali et huma-
man flesh subsisting ;
na carne subsistens ;
33. Equal to the 33. Êqualis Patri

Father, as touching secundum divinita-
His Godhead : and tem, minor Patre se
inferior to the Fa cundum humanita-
ther, as touching His tem ;
Manhood.
34. Who although Deus
34. Qui, licet
He be God and Man : sit ethomo, non duo
yet He not two, but
is tamen, sed unus est
one Christ ; Chris tus ;
35. One ;
not by 35. Unus autem,non
conversion of the conversione divinita-
Godhead into flesh : tis in carnem, sed as-
but by taking of the sumptione humanita-
Manhood into God ;
tis in Deum ;
36. One altogether; 36. Unus omnino,

not by confusion of non confusione sub-
Substance but by :
stantise, sed unitato
unity of Person. Persons.
37. For as the rea 37. Nam, sicut ani-
sonable soul and flesh ma rationalis et caro
is man so God
one : unus est homo, ita
and Man is one Christ ;
Deus et homo unus
est Christus :
NOTES ON THE ATHANASIAN CKEED. 15
38. Who suffered 38. Qui passus est

for our salvation :
pro salute nostra, de-
descended into hell, scendit ad inferos, ter-
rose again the third tia die resurrexit a
day from the dead. mortuis ;
39. He ascended in 39. Ascendit in coe-

to heaven, He sitteth los ; sedet ad dexteram
on the right hand of Dei Patris Omnipo-
the Father, God Al tentis ;
inde venturus
mighty : from whence est judicare vivos et
He shall come to judge mortuos.
the quick and the
dead.
40. At whose com 40. Ad cuj us adven-
ing all men shall rise tum omnes homines
again with their bo resurgere habent cum
dies : and shall give corporibus suis,et red-
account for their own dituri sunt de factis
works. propriis rationem.
41. And they that 41. Et qui bona ege-
have done good shall runt, ibunt in vitam
go into life everlast seternam, qui vero ma
ing and they that
:
la,in ignem seternum.
have done evil into
everlasting fire.
42. This .is the Ca 42. Hsec est fides

tholic Faith : which Catholica, quam nisi
except a man believe quis fideliter firmiter-

faithfully, he cannot que crediderit, salvus
be saved. esse non poterit.
Glory be to the Fa Gloria Patri, et Fi-

ther, and to the Son :
lio, et Spiritui Sancto ;
and to the Holy

Ghost ;
As it was in the Sicut erat in prin-

beginning, now,
is cipio, et nunc, et sem
and ever shall be :
per, et in seecula ssecu-
world without end. 1 or urn. Amen.
Amen.
THE ATHANASIAN CREED;
TO BE USED INSTEAD OF THE
APOSTLES CEEED ON
Six Great Festivals : Seven other Holy Days:

1. CHRISTMAS DAY. 1.ST. MATTHIAS.
2. THE EPIPHANY. 2. ST.JOHN BAPTIST.

3 ST JAMES
3. EASTER DAY. " "
4. ST. BARTHOLOMEW.
4. ASCENSION DAY.
MATTHEW>
5. WHITSUNDAY. 6. ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE.
6. TRINITY SUNDAY. 7. ST. ANDREW.
(a) The Creed is appointed to be said on

the Six GREAT FESTIVALS enumerated in the
first of the above columns, because it contains
the fullest statement of the great doctrines of

the Christian Faith, Our Lord s Incarnation,
His Divinity, the Divinity of the Holy Ghost,
the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
(b) The Creed is also appointed to be said

on SEVEN OTHER HOLY DAYS, the selection
of days being made apparently for no other
reason than to provide that the Creed shall
be said thirteen times a year, i.e.about once
a month. Thus the Apostles Creed is said
daily, the Nicene Creed at least weekly, and
the Athanasian Creed
monthly.
B
I THE NECESSITY OF HOLDING THE

CATHOLIC FAITH IN ITS INTEGRITY
AND PURITY (vv. 1, 2)\
1. Whosoever will be 1. Whosoever is de
saved : before all sirous of being in
things it is neces a state of salvation
sary that he hold must in the first
the Catholic Faith. place hold fast the
Creed of the Ca
tholic Church.
2. Which Faith ex 2. And unless a man
cept every one do keep this Faith in
keep whole and its entirety and in
undefiled without
: its purity, he is
doubt he shall perish doubtless in peril
everlastingly. of eternal ruin.
1. Whosoever will be saved. The Latin is,
Quicunque vult salvus esse ; literally,

"
Who
soever wishes to be safe, or, in a state of
salvation."
1
At the head of the several sections the text is given
on the left hand side, and a paraphrase or explanation on
the right.
STATE OF SALVATION : i.e. a state in which

we are "being saved; the state into which we
are admitted at our baptism a state of safety ;
in the present life which (if persevered in)

will lead to eternal salvation. Compare Ca
techism, I heartily thank our heavenly Father
"
that He hath called me to this state of salva

tion and Acts ii. 47, "The Lord added to the
;"
Church daily those that were being saved"

(R.V.): i.e. those who by their baptism, fol
lowing upon a profession of belief, were placed
in a state of safety.
Before omnia ; i.e.
all things. Latin, ante
"in the Our
first
place." English version is
ambiguous, and might be taken to mean that
right belief the most important thing in the

is
Christian life. The statement of the Creed

does not touch upon the relative importance
of right belief and right practice, but states
that EIGHT BELIEF MUST PRECEDE EIGHT PEAC-
TICE in order of time. This is evident, inas
much as right practice includes our duty to
wards God as well as duty towards our
neighbours and we cannot rightly fulfil our
;
duty towards God believe in Him, fear ("
Him, and love Him without a right faith

")
in that which He has made known to us

concerning Himself, and His relations to us
B2
as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. See

Heb. xi. 6,
"
Without faith it is impossible

to please he that cometh to God
Him, for
must believe that He and Acts xvi. 30. is;"
What must I do to be saved ?

"
Be . . .
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou

shalt be saved." Cf. Article XII., "Good
works are the fruits of faith."
The Catholic Faith: i.e. THE CREED OF

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH the sum of doctrines ;
which have been held always, in all places,

"
by all Christians." This Faith of the Church

is embodied in the Three Creeds, and in the
Decrees of the four General Councils :
A.D.
v
Council of Nicsea . . . .
325
Constantinople .
.381
Ephesus . . .
43 l
Chalcedon . . . 451
2. Whole and Undeflled. Latin, integram

"
entirety and purity in

"
inviolatamque, its ;
i.e. without taking anything from it or adding
anything to it *. The Socinians Unita

"
("
rians ")
do not keep "
the faith whole, inas-

1
N
Archdeacon orris, however, understands inviolatam to
mean, undcfilcd by a bad life ; and refers to I Tim. v. 8,
where a man is said to deny the faith by neglect of his
moral duties ("Rudiments of Theology," p. 257).
much as they deny the Divinity of Our

Blessed Lord ;
the modern Romish Church
"
does not keep the faith undefiled, inas

"
much as it has added the dogmas of the

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
and the Infallibility of the Bishop of Home
to the Creed of the Church.
Without doubt he shall perish everlast
ingly. Latin, absque dubio in aeternum peri-
bit. This is one of the warning clauses of the
Creed (damnatory clauses they are some
times improperly called): it is a declaration
that no other way is known whereby we
may safety and avoid damnation
obtain
except that which demands as its condition
the acceptance of the Church s Creed. Such
warnings apply of course only to those who
are placed in circumstances which render
right belief possible to them *. See St. Mark
1
The wording of verse 2 should be noted, "Which
Faith except every one do keep (servaverit)." A man

could not be said to keep that which he never had.
"As
Holy Scripture in divers places doth promise life to
them that believe, and declare the condemnation of them
that believe not, so doth the Church in this Confession de
clare the necessity for all who would be in a state of salva
tion of holding fast the Catholic Faith, and the great
peril
of rejecting the same. Wherefore the warnings in this Con
fession of Faith are to be understood no otherwise than the
like warnings of Holy Scripture; for we must receive God s
xvi. 16, "He that believeth not shall be

damned."
tkreateriings, even as His promises, in such wise as they are

generally set forth in Holy Writ. Moreover, the Church
doth not herein pronounce judgment on any particular per
son or persons, God alone being the Judge of all "
(Declara
tion of the Convocation of Canterbury, 1879).
At the Conference between the Bishops and the Non-
conforming Divines in 1689, it was proposed to add the
following note to the rubric before the Creed The :
"
articles of which ought to be received and believed, as
being agreeable Holy Scriptures. And the con

to the
demning clauses are to be understood as relating only to

those who obstinately deny the substance of the Christian
Faith."
II. A CONCISE STATEMENT OF THE

DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY IN
UNITY (vv. 3-6).
3. And the Catholic 3. And the belief of

Faith is this : That the Catholic Church
we worship one God is this :we are
that
in Trinity, and Tri to worship one God
nity in Unity ;
in a Trinity of Per
sons, and a Trinity
of Persons in Unity
of Substance ;
4 Neither confound 4. Not merging into
ing the Persons : one the three Per
nor dividing the sons, nor making a-
Substance. difference in the Di
vine Substance.
5. For there is one 5. For the Father, the
Person of the Fa Son, and the Holy
ther, another of the Ghost, have each a
Son and another
: of distinct individu
theHoly Ghost. ality ;
6. But the Godhead of 6. But the Godhead

the Father, of the the Divine Nature^
Son, and of the Holy Substance, or Es-
Ghost, is all one : sence is the same

the Glory equal, the in Father, Son, and
Majesty co-eternal. Holy Ghost :
they
are equal in their
Divine Glory.
Worship one God in Trinity 1 The doc

3. .
trine of the Holy Trinity is presented to us in

the first instance as bearing upon our ivorship.
Cf. the Nicene Creed, speaking of God the
Holy Ghost, "Who with the Father and the
Son together is worshipped and glorified." This
worship of the Triune God is shadowed forth
in Is. vi. 3,
"
And one cried unto another,

and said, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, is the Lord of
Hosts." Cf. Rev. iv. 8.
ONE GOD. The unity of God is a funda

mental article both of the Jewish and Chris
tian Faith.
1
The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, though
the doctrine of which it is the expression may be proved, * "
as will be seen, "by

most certain warrants of Holy Scripture."
The first use of the term is commonly ascribed to
Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, A.D. 181, who speaks of
the three days of creation which preceded the creation of
the sun and moon, as types of the Trinity, viz. of God,
His Word, and His Wisdom. "
Bishop Harold Browne on

the Articles, p. 19.
NOTES ON THE ATHANASTAN CREED. 25
Deut. vi. 4: "Hear, Israel, the Lord our

God is one Lord."
i Cor. viii. 6 : "To us there is but one God,

the Father."
TRINITY OF PERSONS .... UNITY OF SUB

STANCE. Cf. Article I., "And in Unity of this
Godhead there be three Persons."

SUBSTANCE. Literally, that which stands
under or supports attributes; the ESSENTIAL
BEING of God that which makes God to lie ;
God 1 This Substance, this Godhead, is One.

.
The Nicene Creed asserts that God the Son is

"
;c
of one substance with the Father (cf.

St. John x. 30, I and My Father are One "
")
;
and the same Creed states that God the Holy

Ghost "ivith the Father and the Son together
is worshipped and glorified."
PERSON. A person may be defined to be

a living, conscious, willing agent 2
"
and so ,"
distinguished from a quality, an operation,

an effluence, an energy. The term is em
ployed in the Creed, and in theological
writings, to express the distinct individuality
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Human
1
The substance of man is manhood, or humanity the sub ;
stance of God Godhead, or Divinity.

is
2
This is Keble s definition, quoted by Norris Rudiments ("
of Theology," p. 73).
language must necessarily fail to express ade

quately the manner of the Divine existence ;
and we should recognise this truth in our

word
"
use of the "
Person with reference to

l
the Holy Trinity .
"
For us personality
implies limitation or determination, i.e. finite-
ness in some direction. As applied to the
Divine Nature, therefore, the word is not more
than a necessary accommodation required to
give such distinctness to our ideas as may be
"
attainable (
Westcott on St. John i.
14).
4. Neither confounding the Persons i.e. :
NOT MERGING INTO ONE THE THREE PERSONS.

The Catholic Faith requiring us to worship
the Trinity in Unity," there are two heresies
"
which contradict this Faith :
(a) The heresy of those who denied the
Trinity of Persons [the Sabellians].

(6) The heresy of those who denied the
Unity of Substance [the Arians].
1
Thus the language of the Creed may be compared to
those expressions of Holy Scripture where, e.g. God is
spoken of as a jealous God," or said to
"
repent of His
"
"
actions. The terms employed are accommodations to our

human understandings, designed to lead us by the hand as
far as it is possible for us to
go in the investigation of Divine
truths same time, the ordinary acceptation of the
; at the
words not to be pushed further than is necessary for the
is
unfolding of the truth which they aid in expressing.

NOTFS ON THE ATHANASIAN CREED. 27
These are respectively condemned in the two

clauses of verse 4.
THE SABELLIANS were those who confounded
the Persons of the Holy Trinity, i.e. ade
failed
quately to discriminate or distinguish between

Them. They were the followers of Sabellius,
a Presbyter of the Libyan Church in the early
part of the third century. Sabellius taught
"
that there was but one Person in the Godhead ;
and in confirmation of this doctrine he made

use of this comparison as a man, though
:
composed of body and soul, is but one

person,
so God, though He is Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, is but one Person. Hence the Sabellians
reduced the three Persons of the Trinity to
"
three characters or relations God, contem

plated as the Creator, being spoken of as the
Father ; contemplated as the Redeemer, spoken
Son ; contemplated as the Sanctifier,
of as the
spoken of as the Holy Ghost.

The Sabellian heresy is confuted by the
following passages of Holy Scripture
(a)
St. Matt. iii. 1 6, 17: And Jesus,
"
when
He was baptized, went up straightway out of
the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened
unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon
Him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying,
This is My beloved Son, in Whom ! am well
pleased."
John xiv. 16: "And I will pray the

(b) St.
Father, and He shall give you another Com
forter, that He may abide with you for ever."
In both these passages the three Persons
of the Holy Trinity are spoken of in such a
as is inconsistent with the Sabellian
way
teaching.
Nor dividing the Substance : i.e. NOT
MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN 1
THE D I VINE SUB-
STANCE. THE ARIANS, followers of Arius, a
Presbyter of Alexandria, in the early part

of the fourth century, divided the Substance
of the Godhead, denying that God the Son
was of one Substance with the Father they :
allowed to Him the title of God, but said that

this title was given to Him in an inferior
sense, He being not co-eternal and co-equal

with the Father.
The Arian heresy was condemned by the
Council of Nicsea, A.D. 325, which drew up
the Nicene Creed, wherein it is stated that
God the Son is of one Substance ivith the
Father. This heresy is confuted by the fol
lowing texts
1
An old English version of the Creed (1542) read
geparatyng the
"
substance."
(a) St. John x. 30 :

"
I and My Father are

one."
Heb. 3 (R.V.): God the Son being the

"
i.
(6)
very image of the Father s Substance."

Ill ENLARGEMENT AND ILLUSTRA

TION OF THE PRECEDING STATE
MENT WITH REFERENCE TO THE
ONENESS OF THE DIVINE SUB
STANCE (vv. 7-20).
7. Such as the Father 7. The attributes which

is, such is the Son :
may be assigned to
and such is the Holy any one Person of
Ghost. the Holy Trinity
may be assigned
also to the other
Persons.
8. The Father un- 8-18. These attributes
create, the Son un- are
create : and the Holy (a) Uncreated Be
Ghost uncreate.
ing (ver. 8).
9. The Father incom-
(b) Infinity (ver.
1
prehensible ,theSon 9) -
,
incomprehensible :
(c) Eternity (ver.
and the Holy Ghost
10).
incomprehensible.
1
Incomprehensible is the translation of the Latin word
immensus, which means incapable of being measured,
infinite.
[The common meaning of incomprehensible incapable
of
being understood is a later application of the word, and is
not referred to here.] The old English translation before
referred to gave "
The Father is without measure."

10. The Father eter (d) Omnipotence

nal, the Son eternal :
(ver. 13).
and the Holy Ghost (e) Deity (ver. 1
5).
eternal. (/) Lordship (ver.
11. And
yet they are 17).
not three eternals : But ivhile we thus at
but one eternal. tribute to each Per

12. As also there are son of the Holy
not three incompre- Trinity Uncreated
hensibles, nor three Being, Infinity, E-
uncreated : but one ternity, Omnipo
uncreated, and one tence, Deity, Lord
incomprehensible. ship, we must at the
13. So likewise the same time affirm
Father is Almighty, that there is but
the Son Almighty : ONE BEING : Who is
and the Holy Ghost uncreated, infinite,
Almighty. eternal, almighty,
14. Andy et they are not God, and Lord (vv.
three Almighties :
n, 12, 14, 16, 1 8).
but one Almighty.
15. So the Father is
God, the Son is God :
and the Holy Ghost

is God.
16. And
yet they are
not three Gods but :
one God.
32 NOTES ON THE ATHANASTAN CREED.
17. So likewise the

Father Lord, the
is
Son Lord and the :
Holy Ghost Lord.

18. And yet not three
Lords but one Lord.
:
19. For like as we are For while the revela
compelled by the tion of God in

Christian verity to : Christ requires us
acknowledge every toacknowledge seve

Person by Himself rally each one Per
to be God and Lord : son to be God and
20. So are we forbid Lord, so the Creed of
den by the Catholic the Universa I Church
Religion : to say, forbids us to say

There be three Gods, that there are three
or three Lords. Gods or three Lords.
This section expands the statement of verse

6, enumerating the Divine attributes which
are possessed alike by each Person of the
Blessed Trinity.
The statements of the Creed with reference
to the Divine attributes may be thus illus
trated from Holy Scripture :
(a) UNCREATED BEING.

(i.)
Exodus iii. 14: "And God said unto
Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."

(ii.)
St. John v. 26: "As the Father hath
life in Himself, so hath He given to the
Son to have life in Himself."
(iii.)
Gen. i. 2 :
"
The Spirit of God moved

upon the face of the waters."
(b) INFINITY 1 .
Ps. cxxxix. 7-10: "Whither shall I

(i.) go
from Thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from
Thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven,

Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings
of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea even there shall Thy hand ;
lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold

me."
(ii.)
St. Matt, xviii. 20: "Where two or
1
God is infinite:
(a) with respect to space ;
(i) with respect to time.

The former is illustrated here
the latter in the next clause, ;
under the head of "Verses 9 and 10 teach

Eternity"
that we must exclude all conceptions of
space and time in
thinking of God "
(Swainson).
C
34 NOTES ON THE ATHANASFAN CREED.
three are gathered together in My Name,

there am I in the midst of them."
(c) ETERNITY.
(i.)
Psalm xc. 2 :
"
From everlasting to
everlasting Thou art God."
(ii.)
Heb. i. 8: "Unto the Son He saith,
Thy throne, God, O is for ever and ever."
(iii.) [Jesus] am Alpha
Rev. xxii. 13: "I
and Omega, the beginning and the end, the

first and the last."
(iv.) Heb. ix. 14: "... Christ, Who through

the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God."
(d) OMNIPOTENCE.
(i.)
Gen. xvii. i :
"
The Lord said unto

Abraham, I am the Almighty God."
(ii.)
Dan. iv. 35 He doeth according to
:
"
His will in the army of heaven, and among

the inhabitants of the earth: and none can
stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest

Thou
"
(iii.)
Job xlii. 2 : "I know that Thou canst
do every thing."
(iv.) St. Jesus came

Matt, xxviii. 18: "And
and spake unto them, saying, All power is

given unto Me in heaven and in earth."
(v.)
i Cor. ii. 10 : "The
Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God."
(e)
DEITY.
The Father is God.
(i.)
i Cor. viii. 6 : "To us there is but one
God, the Father."
(ii.) Eph. iv. 6 :

"
One God and Father of

all."
The Son is God.
(i.)
St. John i. i :
"
The Word was God."
(ii.)
Phil. ii. 5, 6 : ... Christ Jesus, Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God."
(iii.) Rom. ix. 5 :

"
Christ, Who is over all,

God blessed for ever."
(iv.) Heb. i. 8: "But unto the Son He

saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever 1 ."
1
The Divinity of Our Lord may also be inferred from the
facts :
(a) That He receives worship as God, and is

prayed
to, e.g. by St. Stephen (Acts vii. 59). Of. Hebrews i. 6:
"
Let ail the angels of God worship Him."
(&) He possesses the peculiar attributes of God ; such as

(i.) ETERNITY. St. John i. a :
"
The Same was in the

beginning with God." Heb. i. 8 :
"Thy throne,
God, is for ever and ever"
C 2
The Holy Ghost is God.

Acts v. 3, 4 :
"
Peter said, Ananias, why

hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the
Holy Ghost? .... Thou hast not lied unto

men, but unto God."
Compare also i Cor. iii. 16 with i Cor. vi.
19, and 2 Tim. iii. 16 with 2 Pet. i. 21 *.
(ii.) OMNIPRESENCE. St. Matt, xviii. 20 :

"
Where two
or three are gathered together in My Name,
there am I in the midst of them."
(iii.) OMNISCIENCE. St. John xxi. 17: "Lord, Thou
knowest all things."
(c) He exercises Divine prerogatives, such as
(i.)
FORGIVING SINS. St. Matt. ix. 2 Jesus said unto :
"
the sick of the palsy ; Son, be of good cheer, thy

sins be forgiven thee."
(ii.) JUDGING THE WORLD. St. John v. 22 : "The Fa

ther hath committed all judgment unto the Son."
1
The Divine dignity of the Holy Ghost may also be
inferred from the following considerations :
(a) Blasphemy aga nst Him is the unpardonable sin.

;
St. Matt. xii. 32 Whosoever speaketh against the Holy

:
"
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world,

neither in the world to come."
is associated on terms of
(i) The Holy Ghost equality
with the Father and the Son in the Baptismal Formula
(St. Matt, xxviii. 19), and in the Apostolic Benediction
(a Cor. xiii. 14).

(c) Our Lord
was said to be the Son of Q-od, because He
was conceived by the Holy Ghost. St. Luke i. 35: "The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee .... therefore also that
Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God."
The Personality of the Holy Ghost is proved by the
(/) LOKDSHIP.
(i.)
Psalm Ixxxiii. 18: "That men may
know that Thou, Whose name alone is JE
HOVAH, art the most high over all the earth."
(ii.)
Acts x. 36 :
"
The word which God sent

unto the children of Israel, preaching peace
by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all}!
(iii.)
i Cor. viii. 6 :
"
One Lord Jesus

Christ."
(iv.)
2 Cor. iii. 18 (R.V.): "The Lord is
the Spirit."
1
19. The Christian verity: i.e. the Truth as
made known to us by Christ. The doctrine
of the Trinity inUnity is a doctrine distinct
ively Christian; whatever foreshadowings of
fact that the characteristics and acts of a person ["a living,

conscious, willing agent"]
are attributed to Him in the
New Testament. See especially St. John xiv. 16, &c.,
where the Holy Ghost the Comforter is said to
abide,
teach, reprore, guide, hear, speak, sheto. Compare also
Rom. viii. 26, "The
Spirit maketh intercession;" Eph.
iv. 30, Gritre not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye
"
"
are sealed unto the day of redemption; Acts xiii. 2, "The

Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul."
1
The Truth (objectively). Cf. St. John xvi. 13 (R.V.):
When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you
"
into all the truth" In the old English version of the

Creed (1542) this verse stood, "We are compelled by the
vcrye Truthe of Christcs fayth to confess separative every
one Person to be God and Lorde."
it may be gathered from the Old Testa

1
ment ,
it is distinctly revealed to us only in
theNew.
Every Person by Himself. The Latin
word for which by Himself is substituted is
singillatim, which meansThe separately.
substitution is unfortunate, and makes our
version "
savour of heresy."
"
We may speak
of a separate confession in regard to One
or Other ;
but it is
wrong to speak of One
or Other as being by Himself
"
(Swainson).
Of. passage from Hooker, quoted in foot-note,
P- 43-
1
Such intimations of a plurality of Persons in the God
head are :
(i.) The use of the Plural Pronoun.

Gen. God said, Let Us make man in Our Image,
i. 26 :
"
afterOur Likeness." Cf. Heb. i. 2, where it is said

that God made the world by His Son"
"
Gen. iii. 22 : "The Lord God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of Us."
Gen. xi. 7 The Lord said .... Go to,

:
"
let Us go down,
and there confound their language."
(ii.)
The Names given to the Messiah in the Old Testa
ment.
"
Jehovah our Bighteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6).

"Immanuel," i.e.
"
God with us"

(Is. vii 14).
"The mighty God"
(Is. ix. 6\
"
Awake, sword, against My

Shepherd, and against
the Man that is Fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts
My
"
(Zech. xiii. 7).

20. The Catholic religion: i.e. the more

general revelation of Himself which God has
made to men. Of this revelation, the doctrine
of the Unity of the Godhead is a distinctive
feature.
IV. STATEMENT OF THE PROPERTIES

WHICH SEVERALLY DISTINGUISH
THE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRI
NITY (vv. 21-24).
21. The Father is made 21. God the Father has

of none neither
: this distinctive
pro
created, nor begot perty, that HE is
ten. OF NONE; He is nei
ther made, nor cre
ated, nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the W.GodtheSonhasthis
Father alone : not distinctiveproperty,
made, nor created . that HE is OP THE
but begotten. FATHER ALONE He ;
is not
made, nor
created; His rela
tion to the Father
is expressed by the
phrase, BEGOTTEN
OF THE FATHER.
23.The Holy Ghost is 23. God the Holy
and of
of the Father Ghost has this dis
the Son neither
: tinctive property,
made, nor created, that HE is OF THE
nor begotten, but FATHER AND OF THE
proceeding. SON; He is not
made, nor created,

nor begotten; His
relation to the Fa
ther and the Son is
expressed by the
phrase, PROCEED
ING FROM THE FA
THER AND THE SON.
24. So there is one 24. Thus, in accord
Father, not three ance with the pre
Fathers one Son,
; ceding statement,
not three Sons one : there is one Father,
Holy Ghost, not not three Fathers;

three Holy Ghosts. one Son, not three
Sons ; one Holy
Ghost, not three
Holy Ghosts.
As the precedingsection (verses 7 to 20) may

be regarded mainly as an expansion of ver. 6, so
this section is an expansion of ver. 5, "There is
one Person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Ghost." Personality
implies distinction, and distinction must be
based upon a difference: what this difference
is in the case of the three Persons of the Holy
Trinity expressed in these verses.
is
Compare Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 51

"
:
Seeing
therefore the Father is of none, the Son is of

the Father, and the Spirit is of both, they are
by these their several properties really dis

tinguishable each from other. For the Sub
stance of God, with this property to be of none,
doth make the Person of the Father the very ;
selfsame Substance in number, with this pro

perty to be of the Father, maketh the Person
of the Son
the same Substance, having added
;
unto the property of proceeding from the

it
other two, maketh the Person of the Holy

Ghost. So that in every person there is im
plied both the Substance of God which is one,
and also that property which causeth the same
Person really and truly to differ from the other
two."
Hooker proceeds to illustrate this Oneness

of Substance and Trinity of Persons in the
Godhead by comparison with the oneness of
nature and diversity of personality in men
and in angels. Thus, speaking of men, he says :
"Every person
hath his own subsistence, which
no other besides hath, although there be others
besides that are of the same substance. As
no man but Peter can be the same person
which Peter is, yet Paul hath the selfsame
nature which Peter hath." Again, speaking
of angels, he says :
"
Angels have every of

them the nature of pure and invisible spi

rits but every angel is not that angel which
;
appeared in a dream to Joseph."

These illustrations may be paraphrased and
applied as follows :
(i.)
As there is in different men a common
substance (which we call humanity], and at
the same time a distinct personality (founded
upon differences of parentage, locality, form,
disposition, &c.) ;
and
(ii.)
As there is in different angels a com
mon substance (which we may call the angelic
nature), and at the same time a distinct per
sonality (founded upon differences of office,

relation, &c.) :
SO IS THERE IN FATHER, SON, AND HOLY

GHOST A COMMON SUBSTANCE (WHICH WE CALL
GODHEAD OR DIVINITY) AND AT THE SAME
TIME A DISTINCT PERSONALITY (FOUNDED UPON
THE DIFFERENCES STATED IN THIS SECTION 1 ).
1
The above must be accepted only as an illustration, and
must not be pushed too far. The Oneness of Substance in
the Godhead is, if we may so express it, more intimate
in character than the oneness of substance which exists
amongst different men. Hooker recognises this when he

says elsewhere: "The Persons of the Trinity are not three
particular substances to whom one general nature is com
mon, but three that subsist by one Substance which itself is
They All Three have
particular, yet This particularity
it."
44 NOTES ON THE ATIIANASIAN CREED.
21. The Father is made of none. St. John

v. 26 Father hath life in Himself."
: "The
In accordance with this statement, God the

Father is spoken of by theologians as the
Fountain or Source of Deity. "
He derives
His essence from none, being Himself the
Fountain of life and the Source of being."
22. The Son is of the Father alone . . .
fcegotten.
(i.)
St. John i. 18: "No man hath seen
God at any time the only begotten Son, ;
Which is in the bosom of the Father, He

hath declared Him."
(ii.)
Psalm ii.
7 (quoted Acts xiii. 33 Heb.
;
i.
5) :
"
Thou art My Son ; this day have I

begotten Thee."
The essence of sonship consists in the fact
that the son derives his being from him who
is called his father: the title SON, then, ap
plied to Our Lord, must indicate that He,
in some manner, derives His Being from GOD
THE FATHER. This mystery of the Divine
existence is set forth in Our Lord s own
words :
of Substance (he says) forbids us to contemplate the solitary

or separate existence of the three Persons of the Holy
Trinity.
(i.)
St. John vi. 57 :
"
As the living Father

hath sent Me, and I live by the Father."
(ii.)
St. John v. 26 As the Father hath :
"
life in Himself; so hath He given to the

Son to have life in Himself."
From these statements we learn that the

mode of existence which the Father possessed
from all eternity He communicated to the
Son ;
and this communication of the Nature
of God, thus made by God the Father to God
the Son, is called
"
THE ETERNAL GENERATION

OF THE Sox."
Compare the expressions of the Nicene

Creed, "begotten of His Father before all
and of Article
"
worlds ; II.,
"
begotten from
everlasting of the Father."
23. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and

of the Son . . .
proceeding.
(i.)
St. John xv. 26: the Spirit of truth, "...
which proceedeth from the Father."

i Cor. ii. 12 "We have received, not :
(ii.)
the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which
is of God."
The above texts state the procession of the
Holy Ghost from the Father.

The Creed goes beyond this in affirming
what is known as the doctrine of the double
procession; i.e. that the Holy Ghost "proceed-

eth from the Father and the Son" as stated
in the Nicene Creed. The last words of the
clause were not found in the
original Creed,
as it was settled at the Council of Constan
tinople, A.D. 381 ; they were inserted by

certain branches of the Western Church, but
never received the authorisation of a General
Council. The Filioque clause, as it was called
[and from the Son], was made the occasion
of quarrel between the Eastern and Western
Churches, which led to the separation between
these two branches of the Church Catholic in
the eleventh century. The Eastern Church
still refuses to admit this clause, on the
grounds (a) that it is incapable of proof
from Holy Scripture, (6) that it is unautho
rised by a General Council of the Universal
Church. We
must admit the force of the
second objection, and allow that the Eastern
Church had ground for objection to the in
troducing into a Creed of the Universal
Church an authorised only by one
article
branch of that Church: yet the procession
of the Holy Ghost from the Son may be
"proved by most certain warrant of Holy
Scripture,"
and may fittingly find a place
in the public declaration of our Faith. Thus
we find the Holy Ghost spoken of as the
Spirit of Christ :
(i.)
Rom. viii. 9 : "If
any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."
(ii.)
Gal. iv. 6 God :
"
hath sent forth the

Spirit of His Son into your hearts."
(iii.)
i Pet. i. n: The Spirit of Christ "
which was in them [the prophets]."

(iv.) Compare St. John xx. 22: "Jesus
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Re

ceive ye the Holy Ghost."
As the term GENERATION is used to in

dicate the relation of the Second Person of
the Holy Trinity to the First, so is the term
PROCESSION used to indicate the relation of
the Third Person to the First and Second.
It will be observed that these terms indicate
a priority of order in the Persons of the Holy
Trinity, though not a subordination of rank or
dignity (See vv. 25, 26, and note).
24. There is one Father, not three Fathers,

&c. This verse might seem to be unnecessary,
there having been no sects who taught di
rectly that there were three Fathers, or three

Sons, or three Holy Ghosts. The Sabellian
by confounding the Per
"
heresy, however,
sons," practically tended in this direction;
e.g.the Patripassians, who taught that it

was God the Father Who suffered on the
cross, must have been driven to admit that
there were two Fathers one praying on the
cross, and the other prayed to, in the words
"
Father, forgive them," &c.

V. CO-ETERNITY AND CO-EQUALITY

OF THE THREE PERSONS OF THE
HOLY TRINITY. A REPEATED AS
SERTION OF THE NECESSITY OF A
RIGHT FAITH IN THE DOCTRINE OF
THE TRINITY IN UNITY (vv. 25-28)
25. And in this Tri 25. And in this Tri

nity none is afore, nity there is no
or after other : none "before"
or "after"
is greater, or less
(in time); there is
than another ; no or
"greater"
"
"
less
(in dignity).
26. But the whole 26. But the three Per
three Persons are sons have existed
co-eternal together :
together from all
and co-equal. eternity: they are
allequal in dignity.
27. So that in all 27.Thus, in accord
things, as is afore ance with the state
said the:
Unity in ment of the third
Trinity, and the verse, ive must in
Trinity in Unity is all things worship
to be One God in a Tri
worshipped.
nity of Persons,
and a Trinity of
Persons in the One

Godhead.
28. He therefore that 28. He therefore that
will be saved : must desires to be in a
thus think of the state of salvation,
Trinity. let him thus think
of the Trinity.
This section is an emphatic re-statement of

what has already been stated in previous
verses of the Creed :
The co-eternity of the three Persons (vv.

10, n).
The co-equality of the three Persons (v. 6).
The necessity of a right faith (vv. 1-3).
25. None is afore, or after other, &c.

The Latin is, Nihil prius aut posterius, nihil
majus aut minus, THERE NO SUCH THING is
AS PRIORITY OR POSTERIORITY, NO DISTINCTION

TO BE MADE OF GREATER AND LESS. The
clause is intended to guard against an infer
ence which might be drawn from the lan
guage of the preceding clause the statement :
that the Father is of none, while the Son is
of the Father, and the Holy Ghost is of the

Father and the Son, might be taken to imply
NOTES ON THE ATHAN ASIAN CREED. 51
that the Father -was before the Son in order

of time as well as in dignity, and that "the
Father and the Son were in like manner
before and greater than the Holy Ghost.
Such an inference might indeed seem to
follow naturally from the language which
we have employed in speaking of the manner
of the Divine existence, and of the relations
in which the Persons of the Holy Trinity
stand to each other. We must bear in mind,-
however, that all human language, when ap
plied to the things of God and Heaven, is
necessarily imperfect, and that the statements
made in this language can present to us only
one fragment or aspect of Divine truth, and
thus need to be supplemented, and in some
respects corrected, by other statements. Com
pare what was said with reference to the use
of the word Person, pp. 25, 26.
It will be observed that ver. 26 in its two
clauses affirmatively what

states had been
stated in negative form in ver. 25 : None is
afore or after other ; but the whole three Per

sons are co-eternal : None is greater or less
than another ; but the ivhole three Persons are
co-equal.
27. In all things. Latin, per omnia. The

D 2
Persons of the Holy Trinity may be distin

guished, but cannot be divided, or contem
plated as existing or working apart. "What
the Father does, that the Son does, and that

the Holy Ghost does where the Father is,
;
there the Son is, and there the Holy Ghost

We do indeed attribute the work of
is."
Creation more particularly to the Father, that

of Redemption to the Son, that of Sanctifi-
cation to the Holy Ghost but we must not
;
forget that in each of these the other Persons

of the Holy Trinity are co-operant. Similarly
we may address our prayers and praises more
specifically to One Person of the Holy Trinity ;
but we must bear in mind that the other Per

sons are associated with that One in the unity
of the Divine Being. Cf. footnote on p. 43.
28. He therefore that will be saved, &e.

latin, Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Tri-
nitate sentiat, HE THEREFORE THAT DESIRES
TO BE IN A STATE OF SALVATION LET HIM
THUS THINK. See notes on ver. i.
NOTi S ON THE ATHANASTAN CftEED.
VI. THE DOCTRINE OF OUR LORD S

INCARNATION (vv. 29-37).
29. Furthermore, it is 29. It is moreover ne
necessary to ever cessary for one seek
lasting salvation :
ing eternal life that
that he also believe he should believe
rightly the Incar faithfully the doc

nation of Our Lord trine of Our Lords
Jesus Christ. Incarnation.
30. For the right Faith 30. The right Faith
is, that we believe then is, that we
and confess : that believe (with our
Our Lord Jesus
hearts) and
confess
Christ, the Son of (with our lips) that
God, is God and Our Lord Jesus
Man; Christ, Whom we
have spoken of in
the previous part of
the Creed as THE
SON OF GOD, is both
God and Man.
31. God, of the Sub 31.He is God, inas
stance of the Father, much as He is of
begotten before the one Substance with
54 NOTES ON THE ATH AN ASIAN CREED.
worlds : and Man, the Father, begotten

of the Substance of of the Father before
His Mother, born in all times; He is
the world ; also Man, partak-
in9 of the substance
of the Virgin Mary

His Mother, born in
time.
32. PerfectGod, and 32. He is thus perfect
perfect Man of a : God ; and He is at
reasonable soul and the same time per
human flesh sub fect Man "subsist
sisting ; ing" (i.e. having a

real existence), and
possessing both a
rational soul and
a human body.
33. Equal to the Fa 33. In respect of His
ther, as touching Godhead, He is equal
His Godhead : and to the Father; in
inferior to the Fa respect of His Man
ther, as touching hood, He is inferior
His Manhood. to the Father.
34. Who
although He 34. And though He is
be God and Man : God and Man, yet
yet He is not two, He is not two Per
but one Christ ; sons, but one Per
son, namely Christ.
35. One ;
not by con 35. He is thus One,
version of the God not by His Godhead
head into flesh : but having been turned
by taking the of intoHumanity, but
Manhood into God ; by Manhood having
been taken up into
the Godhead.
36. One altogether ;
36. He is entirely One,
not by confusion of not by a blending
Substance : but by of the Divine with
unity of Person. the Human Sub*
stance, but by the
Oneness of the Per
son, Jesus Christ.
37. For as the reason 37. For [to use an il
able soul and flesh lustration] as the

is one man : so God rational soul and
and Man is one human body toge
Christ. ther constitute one
man, so do God and
Man together con
stitute the one Per
son, Christ.
This section sets forth the doctrine of Our

Lord s Incarnation, touching which there are
four points to be maintained :

56 NOTES OX THE ATHANA8IAN CREED.
(a) The reality of Our Lord s Divine Nature.

(b) The reality of His Human Nature.
(c)
The Union of the Divine and Human
Natures in one Person.
(d) The distinctness of the Natures thus
united.
29. Necessary to everlasting salvation.

The phrase corresponds with that which is
employed in verse i, and asserts that a belief
in Our Lord s Incarnation (as well as in the
doctrine of the Holy Trinity) is required of
those who desire to be in a state of salvation.
This statement is authorised by i John iv. 2, 3 :
u
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God and
every spirit ;
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come

in the flesh, is not of God."
Believe rightly. Latin, fideliter credat,

BELIEVE FAITHFULLY i.e. accept as an article
;
of faith, as a Divine revelation of a fact beyond

the scope of human reason.
30. Believe and confess. Cf. Rom. x. 9, 10:

thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
"If
Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart

3
that God hath raised Him from the dead

5
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man

believeth unto righteousness and with the ;
mouth confession is made unto salvation."

The necessity of an outward confession as
well as of an inward belief was also taught
by Our Lord, St. Matt. x. 32 St. Luke ;
xii. 8.
The Son of God. The phrase employed

by the Jews to designate the Messiah, and
appropriated to Himself by Our Blessed Lord.
St. Matt. xxvi. 63, 64:
"The
high priest
answered and said unto Him, I adjure Thee
by the living God, that Thou tell us whether
Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus
saith unto him, Thou hast said." Of. St. John
i.
34 ;
x. 36, &c.
God, of the Substance of the Fa

31.
ther, begotten before the worlds. This

repeats the previous statements of the Creed
with reference to the consubstantiality and
co-eternity of the Son with the Father.
The Godhead of the Father and of the
"
Son is one"
(ver. 6).
"In this Trinity none is afore or after
other . . ."
"But the whole three Persons are co-

"
eternal together (vv. 25, 26). See

notes, pp. 50, 51.
Man, of the substance of His Mother.

Compare Article II. The Son, which is the
:
"
Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting

of the Father, the very and eternal God, and
of one Substance with the Father, took Man s
nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin,
of her substance" See St. Matthew i.
18-23 5
St. Luke i. 31.

Born in the world. The Latin is, in sceculo,
in time. This balances the previous phrase,

i.e.
begotten before the worlds (ante scecula, before

time was). It indicates that Our Lord, in
taking upon Him our nature, and being born
of the Elessed Virgin Mary, became subject to
those conditions of time and space from which
as God He was exempt.
32. Perfect God.

Compare the expression
in Article II., and in the Nicene Creed, VERY
GOD. The perfection or verity of Our Lord s
Godhead is insisted upon, in contradiction to
the teaching of the Arians and other heretics,
who allowed in words that Jesus was God
but afterwards explained away their state
ment so as to make it appear that He was
God in some less real sense than that in
which the Father is said to be God. For
the proofs of our Lord s Divinity, see p. 35.
Perfect Man. This phrase is explained

in the words that follow of a reasonable
(or rational) soul and human flesh. There
are thus two things appertaining to the per
"
fection of man s nature :

"
(a) The possession of a real human

body.
(b) The possession of a rational soul.
(a) OUR LORD HAD A REAL HUMAN BODY.

This is proved by the His birth of the
fact of
Blessed Virgin Mary His growth in stature
;
(St. Luke ii. 52) His

; liability to hunger (St-
Luke iv. 2), to weariness (St. John iv. 6), to
pain (St. Luke xxii. 44), to bleeding and
bloody sweat (St. John xix. 34 St. Luke ;
xxii. 44), to wounds and laceration (St. John

xx. 27) ;
from His crucifixion, death, and
burial.
The reality of Our Lord s Manhood is in
sisted upon in opposition to the DOCET.E (so
called from a Greek word meaning to seem
or appear), a heretical sect in the second
century, who taught that Our Lord had only

a seeming (or phantom) body, and that His
actions and sufferings were not in reality but
only in appearance. Such teaching involved

a practical denial of Our Lord s Incarnation,
and robbed His life and death of all meaning,
either as an example for us to follow, or as an

atonement for the sins of the world.
(b) OUR LORD HAD A REASONABLE SOUL.
This is proved by the fact of His "
in
wisdom
"
creasing in (St. Luke ii.

52) ;
from
the possibility of His
being ignorant (St.
Mark xiii. 32), which could not be true of
Him considered only in His Divine Nature ;
from His being liable to temptation; from

His feeling sorrow and sympathy (St. Luke
xix. 41 St. John xi. 35, &c.)
; ; from the sepa
ration of His Soul from His Eody at death,
the Soul descending to Hades, whilst the Body
was laid in the grave (Acts ii. 27, 31) 1 .
The existence of a rational soul in Our Lord

was denied by the APOLLINARIANS, followers of
Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea, in the fourth
century. Apollinaris taught that the place of
the rational soul in Our Lord was supplied by
God the Word. This heresy was condemned
at the Council of Constantinople, A.D. 381.
33. Equal to the Father. Cf. vv. 6, 25, 26.

"
The Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal;"

"
None is greater or less than another ; "
"
The whole three Persons are co-equal."
Bishop Harold Browne on the Articles, pp. 70, 71.

1
The co-equality of the Son with the Father

is proved,
(a) St. John x. 30 : "I and My Father are
One."
(6) St. John v. 1 8 :

"
Making Himself equal

with God."
(c)
Phil. ii. 6: "Thought it not robbery to
*
be equal with God.
The inferiority of the Son, in respect of

His Manhood, is shown in Our Lord s own
words,
St. John xiv. 28 :
"
My Father is
greater
1
than I ."
35. Not by conversion of the Godhead into

flesh. In this and the following verse there
are excluded from the limits of the Catholic
Faith two explanations which might possibly
be, or have actually beeh, given of Our Lord s
Incarnation, (a) that it was a change in which
the Divine Nature was lost and the human
substituted in Its place (b) that it involved a ;
confusion or blending of the two Natures.

What is here stated is that the Incarnation
1
Some commentators, however, understand this text as
referring to the priority of order which distinguishes the

Father as the Source or Fountain of Deity. See note on
verse 21, p. 44; and cf. Westcott on St. John xiv. 28.
was not a conversion or change of Godhead

into Manhood, or, in other words, that OUR
LORD, IN BECOMING MAN, DID NOT CEASE TO
BE GOD. This is proved by Our Lord s words
to Nicodemus (St. John iii. 13): "No man
hath ascended up to heaven but He that
came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man Who is in heaven." A form of ex
pression which "preserves the continuity of
Our Lord s Personality, and yet does not
confound His Natures He that came
down from heaven, even He Who being
incarnate is the Son of Man, without ceasing
to be what He was before
"
l
(Westcott) .
Taking of the Manhood into God. Heb.

ii.14: "Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself likewise took part of the same."
Where the argument is, that Our Blessed
Lord "
took our nature upon Him "
in order
that He might in all things "be made like
unto His brethren."
36. Not by confusion of Substance. This

clause is opposed to the EUTYCHIAN
heresy
1
Our Lord at His Incarnation "emptied Himself" of
His Divine glory (Phil. ii. 7), but not of His Divine
Nature.
(so from Eutyches, Abbot of a mo

called
nastery near Constantinople, in the fifth cen

tury). The Eutychians taught that in the
Incarnation the human nature of Our Lord
was swallowed up in the Divine absorbed ("
in the Godhead, like a drop of honey in the

ocean or that the two natures were so
"),
l
blended as to form a third nature . This
heresy would represent Our Lord as holding
a position something like that of the demi
gods of mythology, having a nature partly
human, partly Divine. The Catholic Faith,
on the other hand, is, that Our Lord s human"
and Divine Natures remained without change,

each fulfilling its part according to its proper
laws."
A discrimination between the two Natures

is made
in verse 33, where it is said that Our
Lord in respect of His Godhead is equal to
the Father, while in respect of His Manhood
He is inferior to the Father. Such a dis
crimination could not be made if the two
natures were blended into one.
Unity of Person. The denial of this
unity was the distinctive error of the NES-

TOKIANS (so called from Nestorius, a Bishop
1
The Eutychian heresy was condemned at the Council
of Chalcedon, A.D. 451.
of Constantinople in the fifth century), who
taught that Our Lord had a human perso

nality and a Divine Personality, and that the
actsand attributes belonging to the respective
natures must be referred to each. The heresy
originated in the refusal of one of the followers
of Nestorius to allow to the Blessed Virgin Mary
the title of Theotokos (i.e. bearer, or mother of
God 1 ), which had been commonly assigned to
her in the Early Church it was proposed :
that she should be called instead Christo-

tokos (i.e.
mother of Christ). Such a discrimi
nation practically involved the denial of that
"Unity
of Person" which is asserted in the
Creed. With equal reason might exception
have been taken to the expression blood of "
God" found in Acts xx. 28 (- The Church

of God, which He hath purchased with His
own blood ")
2
.
is now felt in applying this title to the

1
If any hesitation
Blessed Virgin, because of the exaggeration in the Church
it is
of Rome of the reverence properly due to her.

2
Hooker Eccl. Pol." V. liii. 4) refers to
("
the cross and "
circulatory speeches, wherein there are attributed to God

such things as belong to manhood, and to man such as
properly concern the Deity of Christ Jesus." As an ex
ample of the former he cites I Cor. ii. 8, where St. Paul
says that the princes of this world crucified the Lord
"
. . .
of glory and of the latter, St. John iii. 13, where the
;"
Son of Man being on earth affirmeth that the Son of Man

Nestorius was condemned at the Council

1
of Ephesus, A.D. 431 .
37. As the reasonable soul and flesh is
one man. It must be observed, that this is
was in heaven at the same time. "In the one there is
attributed to God, or the Lord of glory, death, whereof

Divine Nature is not capable in the other ubiquity unto
;
man, which human nature admitteth not." These are

illustrations of that which is called by theologians the
communicatio idiomatum; i.e. the transference of attributes
from the one to the other of the two Natures co-existing
in the one Person, Christ.
The statements of verses 4 and 36 may be exhibited in a
tabular form, for the sake of comparison and contrast :
1
If, as Waterland supposes, the Athanasian Creed was
written before this date, the
language of this verse must
not have been directly aimed
against the Eutychian and
Nestorian heresies, but against modes of
thought or forms
of expression then prevailing in the Church which after
wards were formulated into these distinct heresies. The
(p. 60) was to some extent an anticipa
Apollinarian heresy
tion of Eutychianisrn.
used only as an illustration. The union of

Godhead and Manhood in one Person is a
mystery, to which the mystery of the union
of soul and body in man is to some extent
analogous, as showing that a visible and an

"
invisible, a mortal and an immortal substance,
may united make one person."

We must not,
however, press the illustration so far as to
assume that as in us the body and soul, so
"
in Christ God and man make but one nature"
(Hooker,
"
Eccl. Pol." V. lii.

4) ;
this would be
to contradict the statement of Article II. :
whole and perfect Natures, that is to

"Two
say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined

together in one Person, never to be divided,
*
whereof is one Christ.
VII. OUR LORD S PASSION, DESCENT

INTO HADES, RESURRECTION, AND
SESSION AT THE RIGHT HAND OF
GOD; HIS FUTURE COMING TO
JUDGE THE QUICK AND DEAD ;
THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS

AND THE PUNISHMENT OF THE
WICKED; RE-ASSERTION OF THE
NECESSITY OF HOLDING THE CA
THOLIC FAITH (vv. 38-42).
38. Who suffered for 38. Who endured
our salvation : de death on the cross,
scended into hell, that thereby He
rose again the third might save us from
day from the dead. sin and its con
sequences; at His
death His Soul pass
ed into Hades, the
place of departed
spirits on the third
;
day after His cru

cifixion His Soul
and Body were u-
nited, and with His
Soul and Body He
E 2
roue again from the

dead.
39. He ascended into 39. He visibly went
heaven, He sitteth up from earth, and
on the right hand passed into the im
of the Father, God mediate presence of
Almighty : from God, where He oc
whence He shall cupies the place of
come to judge the h ighest dignity from
quick and the dead. which He shall here
after return tojudge
all men, both those
who are alive and
those who are dead
at His appearing.
40. At whose coming 40. When Our Lord
all men shall rise shall come again,
again with their the souls and bodies
bodies : and shall of the dead ^mll be
give account for reunited, and the
their own works. dead will rise with

their bodies ; they
will then appear be
fore the judgment-

seat of Christ, and
judged for the
be
works they did
ivhile on earth.
41. And they that 41. Those whose lives
have done good shall are approved by

go into life ever God, the Judge, will
lasting and they
: then pass into a
that have done evil condition ofreward
into everlasting fire. (called everlasting
life),
and those whose
livesare condemned
of God will pass into
a condition of pun
ishment (described
under the figure of
everlasting fire).
42. This is the Ca 42. This is the Creed
tholic Faith : which of the Catholic
except a man be Church, and unless

lieve faithfully, he a man holds this
cannot be saved. Creed faithfully, he

cannot be in a state
of safety.
38. Suffered for our salvation. This state

ment as to the efficacy of Our Lord s sufferings
corresponds with that in the Nicene Creed,

"Who for us men, and for our salvation,
came down from heaven." The same truth
is set forth more explicitly in Article II.:
t;
Christ truly suffered, was crucified, dead and
buried, to reconcile His Father to us 1 and to

,
be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but

also for all actual sins of men."
These are the authoritative statements of

the Church on the subject of Our Lord s
ATONEMENT, that Our Lord died to free us
from sin, and to make AT ONE God and man,
who had been previously estranged through
man s They are based upon
transgression.
the following passages of Holy Scripture,
Col. i.
19-22: "For it pleased the Father
that in Him should all fulness dwell and, ;
having made peace through the blood of His

cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be

things in earth, or things in heaven. And
1
be observed that the phraseology of the Article
It will
differs inone respect from that of the passages quoted be
low: in those passages St. Paul speaks of the reconciliation
of man to God, while the Article speaks of the reconciliation
of God to man, of which Holy Scripture does not directly
speak. The latter idea is, however, included in the former;
God s wrath against sinful man is exhibited in such passages
as Rom. v. 9, "... We shall be saved from wrath;
"
Eph.
ii. 3, "... Were by nature the children of ivrath." From
this just wrath of God the sacrifice of Our Lord was
designed to deliver us. It is accordingly spoken of as a

propitiatory sacrifice, "He is the propitiation for our sins"
(i John ii. 2) the effect of the sacrifice being to remove the
;
wrath of God, and make Him propitious (i.e. favourable}

to us.
NOTES ON THE ATHANASTAN CEEED. 71
you, that were sometime alienated and ene

mies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath He reconciled in the body of His
Flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreproveable in His sight."
2 Cor. v. 19: "God was in Christ, recon
ciling the world unto Himself, not imputing

their trespasses unto them."
Eph. ii.
13, 16: "Now in Christ Jesus ye
who sometimes were made nigh by
far off are
the blood of Christ. That He might reconcile
both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body
5
by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.

Compare also Rom. iii. 2426.
Descended into Hell. Compare Article
III. The word Hell is derived from an old
English word meaning to cover or conceal,
and means therefore the covered place; it
corresponds with the Greek word Hades,
meaning the unseen icorld, the place of de
1
parted spirits . This clause is inserted in the
Apostles and Athanasian Creeds to emphasise
the fact that Our Lord in His death complied
with the conditions of death in man, His Soul
1
It is of course not to be confounded with the place
of
torment (Gehenna). It is unfortunate that the same word
Hell should be employed in English to describe two such
different places or conditions.
was separated from His Body, and while the

latter was buried, the former passed into the
place of departed spirits.

St. Luke xxiii. 43 :
"
To-day shalt thou be

with Me in Paradise."
Acts ii. to quotation from

31 (referring
Ps. xvi. 10): seeing this before spake
"He
of the Resurrection of Christ, that His Soul

ivas not left in hell, neither His Flesh did see
corruption."
Eph. iv. 9 :
"
Now that He ascended, what

is it but that He also descended first into the
"
lower parts of the earth 1

i Pet. iii. 18-20: "Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that

He might bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit by :
which also He went and preached unto the

spirits in prison ; which sometime were
disobedient, when once the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah, while the
ark was a preparing."
Rose again the third day from the dead.
Cf. Nicene Creed The third day He rose
:
"
again according to the Scriptures" See i Cor.

xv. 4. The Scriptures referred to as pro
phetic of our Lord s Resurrection are
Ps. xvi. 10: "Thou wilt not leave My Soul
in hell ;
neither wilt Thou
suffer Thine Holy
One to see (Quoted Acts ii. 27,
corruption."
31, and xiii. 35-37, and applied to the Resur

rection of Our Lord.)
Hosea vi. 2 After
:
"
two days will He

revive us ;
in the third day He will raise us
up, and we shall live in His sight."
Our Lord s Resurrection was also typically

foreshadowed
(a) In the history of Jonah :
"
As Jonas
was three days and three nights in
the whale s belly so shall the Son ;
of Man
be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth."
(6)
In the deliverance of Isaac from
death: "Abraham offered up Isaac
. . .
accounting that God was able
to raise him up, even from the
dead ;
from whence also he received
him
"
(Heb. xi. 17-19). in a figure
Compare with the foregoing St. Luke xxiv.

45, 46 Then opened He their understand
:
"
ing, that they might understand the scrip

tures, and said unto them, Thus it is written,
and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead the third day."
The fact of Our Lord s Resurrection, and
His appearances to many witnesses, are re-
corded in the Gospels, and referred to in

Acts To whom
"
i Cor. xv. Cf. i.

3 :
"
also
[the Apostles] He "
showed Himself alive

after His passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days."
39. He ascended into heaven. The narra

tive of Our Lord s Ascension is found in St.
Luke xxiv. 50, 51, and Acts i.
9-11.
He on the right hand of the Fa
sitteth
ther i.e. Our Lord, after His Ascension, was
:
awarded the place of highest honour and dis

tinction in the heavenly mansions.
St. Mark xvi. 19: "So then after the Lord
had spoken unto them, He was received up
and sat on the right hand of
into heaven,
Gocir
Heb.
i.
3: "When He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat doivn on the right
hand of the Majesty on high."
Heb. x. 12: "This Man, after He had

offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down
on the right hand of God."
Ps. ex. i The Lord said unto my Lord,

:
"
Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine

enemies Thy (Quoted, as fulfilled
footstool."
by Our Lord s Ascension and exaltation to

God s right hand, in Acts ii.
34, &c.)
From whence He shall come to judge the

quick and the dead. Acts i. i o, ii: "
And
while they looked stedfastly toward heaven
as He went up, behold, two men stood by
them in white apparel ;
which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into
heaven ? this same Jesus, which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."
St. John v. 22 The Father judgeth no :
"
man, but hath committed all judgment unto
the Son."
Acts xvii. 31 :
"
God hath appointed a day

in the which He will judge the world in
righteousness by that Man Whom He hath
ordained."
2 Tim. iv. i :
"
. . . . the Lord Jesus Christ,

Who shall
judge and the dead at the quick
His appearing and His kingdom."
Acts x. 42 He commanded us to preach
:
"
unto the people, and to testify that it is He

which was ordained of God to be the Judge
of quick and dead."
40. At "Whose coming all men shall rise

again with their bodies, &c. Compare with
these verses the corresponding clauses of the
other Creeds:
76 NOTFS ON THE ATHANASIAN CREED.
Apostles Creed. I believe in ... the resur "
rection of the body, and the life everlasting."

Nicene Creed. "
I look for the resurrection

of the dead, and the life of the world to come."
It will be observed that the Athanasian

Creed particulars which
contains are not
contained in the shorter Creeds:
(i.)
a more explicit statement
It contains
of the judgment which shall take place at

the resurrection.
It states the rule of that
(ii.) judgment, that
will be
"
it according to works."
(iii.)
It states the punishment that will be
inflicted upon the wicked They that have ["
done evil shall go into everlasting fire"].

All men shall rise again with their bodies.
The Latin is, resurgere habent; literally, have
to rise, i Cor. xv. 42 So also is the resur :
"
rection of the dead. It is sown in corruption ;
it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in
dishonour ;
it is raised in glory it : is sown in
weakness it is ;
raised in power : it is sown
a natural body ;
it is raised a spiritual body."
Eom. viii. 1 1 :
"
But if the Spirit of Him

that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, He that raised up Christ from the dead
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
Spirit that dwelleth in you."

Job xix. 26 my skin worms

"
:
Though after
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see

God."
Shall give account for their own works.

Rom. xiv. 10, 12: "We shall all stand before
the judgment seat of Christ ... So then every
one of us shall give account of himself to God/
1 Peter iv. 5 Who shall give account to
:
"
Him that is ready to judge the quick and

the dead."
2 Cor. v. 10: "We must all appear before

the judgment seat of Christ that every one ;
may receive the things done in his body,

according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad."
41. They that have done good shall go

into life everlasting. St. Matt. xxv. 31-34,
41, 46 When the Son of man shall come in

:
"
His glory, and all the holy angels with Him,

then shall He sit upon the throne of His
glory: and before Him shall be gathered all
nations and He shall separate them one from
:
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from

the goats and He shall set the sheep on His
:
right hand, but the goats on the left. Then

shall the King say unto them on His right
hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit

78 NOTFS ON THE ATHANASIAN CREFD.
the kingdom prepared for you from the foun

dation of the world. Then shall He say also
unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels. And these shall go
away into everlasting punishment: but the

righteous into life eternal."
John v. 28, 29
St. The hour is coming, in
:
"
the which all that are in the graves shall hear

His voice, and shall come forth: they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life ;
and they that have done evil, unto the resur

rection of damnation."
42. This is the Catholic FaHh, &c. See

notes on vv. i, 2, 28, 29. Cf. Rev. xxii.
1 8, 19: any man shall add unto these
"If
things, God add unto him the plagues

shall
that are written in this book and if any man :
shall take away from the words of the book

of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part out of the book of life, and out of the

holy city, and from the things which are
written in this book."
Faithfully. The Latin is, fideliter firmi-
terque,
"
faithfully and firmly."

The latter
word implies earnestness of conviction, as the
former relates to correctness of belief.
QUESTIONS.
1.
Why is the Athanasian Creed so called ?
Upon what occasions is it appointed to be

read in the Public Service of the Church ;
and
for what reason ?
2. Explain the following expressions found
in the Creed ; give the context in which each
occurs ;
and illustrate from Holy Scripture :
"
(a) Incomprehensible."
(b)
"
Christian verity."
(c)
"
Reasonable soul."
(d)
"
Conversion of the Godhead into

flesh."
3. fully, giving the context, and

Explain
illustrating out of Holy Scripture :
(a) Whosoever "
will be saved."
Keep whole and

"
(b) undefiled."
(c)
"
None is afore or after other"
What is there in the Nicene Creed corre
sponding to the last of these three expressions "?
4. "The
Unity in Trinity and the Trinity
in Unity."
In what connection do these
80 QUESTIONS.
words occur? Explain them fully, and point

out what there is in the Nicene Creed cor
responding to them.
5. What is meant by the phrases "con
founding the Persons"

"dividing the Sub
stance ?
"
What language in the Nicene Creed
guards against these two errors?
6. The Godhead of the Father, of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost is all one." Write a
list of those attributes of the Godhead which
are given as examples of this equality, with
scriptural proofs or illustrations of each.
Prove from Holy Scripture the following

7.
Article of the Faith At Whose coming all

"
men shall rise again with their bodies, and

shall give account for their own works;" and
show how far the same doctrine is expressed
in the other Creeds of the Church.
8. In what points is the Athanasian Creed

more explicit, and in what less explicit, than
the other Creeds? What light is thrown by
the differences in the Creeds upon the origin
of such differences ?
9. Compare the statements in the three
Creeds respecting the Second Person in the

QUESTIONS. 81
Trinity. What inference may be drawn from

them as to the order in which the Creeds were
framed 1 ?
1. Give a
summary of the contents of the
Athanasian Creed. What is meant by "the
Catholic Faith," and" the Catholic Religion?"
2. Compare the statements of the Atha

nasian Creed with reference to Our Lord s
Incarnation with those found in the Apostles

and Nicene Creeds, and in Article II.
3. Make a list of the heresies with reference

to theHoly Trinity which are referred to in
the Athanasian Creed. Quote the clause in
which each is referred to, and cite texts of
Holy Scripture confuting each heresy.

4. Make a list of the heresies on the subject
of Our Lord s Incarnation which are referred
to in theAthanasian Creed. Quote the state
ments of the Creed referring to each, and cite
passages of Holy Scripture in support of these
statements.
1
The foregoing Questions are adapted from those set in
recent years at the Annual Examination of Church of
Eng
land Training Colleges in Religious Knowledge.
F
82 QUESTIONS.
"
Quote the of the

"
5.
warning clauses
Creed. Show how some of these are modified
by a reference to the Latin original. Give
scriptural proof in support of each statement,
and defend these clauses from the imputation
of
"
uncharitableness."
6. What phrase of the Athanasian Creed

implies the doctrine of Our Lord s Atone
ment? Compare the statements of this doc
trine found in the Nicene Creed and in
Article II., and give scriptural proofs.
Give the context of the following phrases;

7.
state the doctrines of the Faith to which they

severally refer, and the heresies to which they
are severally opposed :
the
"
Confounding Persons"
(a)
"
Unity of Person"
(b)
;{
Confusion of Substance"
(c)
Dividing the
"
Substance."
(d)
8. Define the words Person and Substance,
and write a note on the employment of these

terms in the Athanasian Creed.
9. How are the Persons of the Holy Trinity
distinguished from each other? Give scrip
tural proofs of the Personality and Divinity
of the Holy Ghost, and of His Procession
from the Father and the Son.
QufsTiom 83
10. Explain the following, with reference

to the context :
(a)
"
Born in the world."
(b)
"
Shall give account for their own

ivorks"
(c) Believe rightly."
Of a reasonable and human

"
(d) soul
flesh subsisting."
(e)
"
Such as the Father is, such is the
Son, and such is the Holy Ghost."
11. What illustration is given in the Creed

of the union of the two Natures in the one
Person of our Blessed Lord? Show how far
it serves its
purpose as an illustration of the
"
mystery of the holy Incarnation."

12. In what respect is Our Lord said to
be equal to the Father" and in what
"
respect
"inferior to the Father?" Give scriptural
proofs of both statements.
13. Explain the meaning of the statement
that Our Blessed Lord descended into hell;
and give scriptural proofs.
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Hobson. Notes On The Athanasian Creed. 1894.

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Hobson. Notes On The Athanasian Creed. 1894.

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REV. EDWIN HOBSON, M.A.,

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE,

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN

Is there in that Confession of Faith

faithful hearer ? Hooker.

The Psalm that gathers in one glorious

Man s wandering path in life s ungenial clime,

(True love is bold, and gravely dares reprove,)

Athanasius Creed .... ought

THE Creed which Article VIII. calls ATHA-

posterior to the time of Athanasius it is

evident also from its structure that it was ori

certain that the Creed was set forth under

was the champion, and which he maintained

century, after carefully investigating the whole

in all probability composed in Gaul, some time

to ascribe the authorship to

and reference will be found in the notes to a

at length in Professor Swainson s Letter to

(1549) limited the use of the Creed to the

pointed to be usedon seven other days, thus

CONFESSION OF OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH,

THE CREED OF ST. ATHANASIUS.

English Version. Latin Version.

Le saved : before all salvus esse, ante om-

3. And the Catho 3. Fides autem Ca-

4. [Neither con- 4. Neque confun-

founding the Per dentes Personas, ne-

the Substance. parantes.

Ghost, is all one the :

Glory equal, the Ma terna Majestas.

7. Such as the Fa 7. Qualis Pater, talis

ther is, such is the Filius, talis Spiritus

comprehensible, the immensus Filius, im-

10.The Father eter 10. ^Eternus Pater,

nal, the Son eternal : seternus Filius, seter-

comprehensibles, nor mensi; sed unus In-

13. So likewise the 13. Similiter omni-

16. And yet they 16. Et tamen non

21. The Father is 21. Pater a nullo est

made, nor created, but nec creatus, sed geni-

three Sons : one Holy unus Spiritus Sanc

25. And in this 25. Et in hac Trini-

26. But the whole 26. Sed totse tres

things, as is afore sicut jam supra dic

nity in Unity is to in Unitate, veneranda

28. He therefore 28. Qui vult ergo

29. Furthermore, it 29.Sed necessarium

31. God, of the Sub 31. Deus est, ex sub-

begotten before the cula genitus et homo

worlds and Man, of

Mother, born in the

32. Perfect God, and 32. Perfectus Deus,

perfect Man : of a rea perfectus homo, ex ani-

33. Equal to the 33. ^Equalis Patri

36. One altogether; 36. Unus omnino,

38. Who suffered 38. Qui passus est

day from the dead. mortuis ;

39. He ascended in 39. Ascendit in coe-

42. This .is the Ca 42. Hsec est fides

except a man believe quis fideliter firmiter-

Glory be to the Fa Gloria Patri, et Fi-

>: O

Church daily those that were being saved"

duty towards God believe in Him, fear ("

works are the fruits of faith."

by all Christians." This Faith of the Church

Faith except every one do keep (servaverit)." A man

xvi. 16, "He that believeth not shall be

as will be seen, "by

Deut. vi. 4: "Hear, Israel, the Lord our

i Cor. viii. 6 : "To us there is but one God,

Godhead there be three Persons."

use of the "